satyan@redmond:~/src$ git commit -m “Microsoft announced in June that it
> was buying the Git repository and collaboration platform GitHub for
> $7.5 billion in stock. That acquisition has received all the necessary
> regulatory approvals and has now completed. Nat Friedman, formerly of
> Xamarin, will take the role as GitHub CEO on Monday.
>
> The news of the acquisition sent ripples through the open source world,
> as GitHub has become the home for a significant number of open source
> projects. We argued at the time that the sale was likely one of
> necessity and that of all the possible suitors, Microsoft was the best
> one due to common goals and shared interests. Friedman at the time
> sought to reassure concerned open source developers that the intent was
> to make GitHub even better at being GitHub and that he would work to
> earn the trust of the GitHub community. Those views were reiterated
> today.
>
> Since then, Microsoft has joined the Open Invention Network, a patent
> cross-licensing group that promises royalty free licenses for any patents
> that apply to the Linux kernel or other essential open source packages.
> This was a bold move that largely precludes Redmond from asserting its
> patents against Android and should mean that the company will no longer
> receive royalties from smartphone manufacturers.
>
> Sources close to the matter tell us that Microsoft’s decision to join
> OIN was driven in no small part by the GitHub acquisition. GitHub is
> already a member of OIN, which left Microsoft with only a few options:
> withdraw GitHub from OIN, a move that would inevitably upset the open
> source world; acquire GitHub as some kind of arm’s length subsidiary
> such that GitHub’s OIN obligations could not possibly apply to
> Microsoft; or join OIN too, as the most straightforward approach that
> also bolstered the company’s open source reputation. Microsoft took
> the third option.”
[microsoft-acquisitions baadf00d] Microsoft announced…
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